Man city 9-0 Burton Albion, ruthless city all but confirm EFL final place

Man city 9-0 Burton Albion, ruthless city all but confirm EFL final place

Man City all but booked their place in the EFL Cup final with a 9-0 demolition of League One Burton Albion at the Etihad.

Gabriel Jesus scored four to lead the thumping and make the second leg of this semi-final, at the Pirelli Stadium in a fortnight’s time, a mere formality.

Pep Guardiola clearly wanted the job done tonight, and named a strong line-up, with no room for Phil Foden , though Eric Garcia was given a rare start at centre-back on his 18th birthday.

Many of the Burton travelling contingent were delayed by traffic on the M6, and those arriving any later than six minutes after kick off would have missed Kevin De Bruyne heading David Silva’s cross past Bradley Collins to open the scoring.

First, Ilkay Gundogan’s brilliant through ball fed Leroy Sane, and though his effort was blocked by Collins, Jesus arrived to put away the rebound.

The Brazilian had his second soon after, with Gundogan again instrumental in starting the move with a chipped pass in behind to Silva. VAR showed that the Spaniard was just onside as he cushioned into the path of Jesus, who found the net via the upright.

Jesus completed his hat-trick just before the hour mark, heading home from Riyad Mahrez’s floated cross, before Guardiola introduced Foden in place of De Bruyne.

Mahrez added his name to the scoresheet with a toe-poke that trickled past Collins’ tired dive for a ninth but Burton clung on to avoid the humiliation of double figures.

Reports:PSG to hijack Barcelona deal for star midfielder

French football club paris st germain are reportedly set to hijack Barcelona deal for Ajax starlet frenkie de jong.

The Ajax midfielder was set to sign for the catalan club, but psg have now logged a late bid in the eleventh hour.

It is understood that The 21-year-old’s Dutch agent, who is due in Paris at the end of next week, has reached an agreement with the Ligue 1 champions’ board over a 5-year contract worth €8m a year.

Although Barcelona are still in the hunt for De Jong, the Catalan club’s Sporting Director Eric Abidal has a difficult relationship with key agent Ali Dursun, because of the commission that the latter is seeking in an eventual deal.